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Proverbs 6 v 9-19

How long will you lie there, you sluggard?    When will you get up from your sleep?

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

A troublemaker and a villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth, who winks maliciously with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers, who plots evil with deceit in his heart— he always stirs up conflict.

Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant;    he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.

There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him:

haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes,  feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. 

1 John 3 v 4

Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.

Ephesians 2 v 12

Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

Romans 5 v 10

“God’s enemies”

Leviticus 11 v 44

I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.

Isaiah 64

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

George Stevenson 1812 1859 – Presbyterian Minister “A Treatise on the offices of Christ”

Formally considered, sin is not, with respect to God, of the nature of a personal injury, but an offence against his law and government. “He that commits sin transgresses also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law.” (Quoting 1 John 3 v 4)

As sin is not to be viewed, in regard to God, as a private offence, so divine punishment is not to be considered as an act of private revenge, but as an act of retributive justice for the vindication of law and government.

Were sin to be viewed, as committed against God, as a private injury, and divine punishment as of the nature of private revenge, there would be no room for satisfaction by substitution; for revenge will rest satisfied with nothing short of the ruin of its object.

Romans 5 v 6-8

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us

1 John 3 v 1

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

Luke 23 v 34

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

1 John 1 v 9-2 v 1

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

Matt 18 21-35: The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times

“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

“At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go.

“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Romans 12 v 17-19

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

Sermon of Father Bolues George

Now what will we say to those who kill us? I don’t know. The first thing we will say is, “Thank you very, very, very much!” And you won’t believe us when we say thank you. You know why we thank you? You won’t get it, but please believe us. Because you gave us to die the same death as Christ. And this is the biggest honour we could have. Christ was crucified — and this is our faith. He died and was slaughtered — and this is our faith. …

We thank you because you shortened for us the journey. When someone is headed home to a particular city, he keeps looking at the time. “When will I get home? Are we there yet?” Can you imagine if in an instant he finds himself on a rocket ship straight to his destination? You shortened the journey! Thank you for shortening the journey. …

You’re helping us, and you don’t even know it. We need to thank you. Trust me. And I’ll tell you why. Because there are people we visited in their homes one, two, three, four times, to encourage them to come to church. Still they won’t come. What you’re doing here — you’re bringing to church the people who never come. Believe me — it is bringing to church the people who never come! … You are filling up our churches!  …

The second part of the message we want to send to you is that we love you. And this you won’t understand at all. … Why won’t you understand it? Because this too is a teaching of our Christ.

We love you because this is the teaching of our God — that I’m to love you — no matter what you do to me. I love you very much.

I long to talk to you about our Christ. And tell you about how wonderful He is. See what Christ said: If you love those who love you, you have no profit or reward with me. Even thugs and thieves love those who love them. Any gang loves its members. Even the drug dealers all like each other and take care of each other. Right? But I want to tell you that “if you love those who love you, what reward have you … But I say to you, love your enemies.” (Matthew 5:43-48.) …

The Christian doesn’t make enemies because we are commanded by God to love all of His creation. And so, we love you because this is the teaching of our God — that I’m to love you — no matter what you do to me. I love you very much.

And I want to say one last thing to you: we’re praying for you. Because the One who told us to love our enemies also told us to “bless those who curse you … and pray for those who spitefully use you.” (Matthew 5:44.) So the command I have been given from my God, who is full of love, makes it my duty to pray for you.